7 Seater conversion

[Sausager]

Hey guys. I'm looking to buy a 7 seater wagon. To open my options up a bit, I'm wondering what the process is around converting a wagon to 7 seats into say a surf, terrano, prado, mistral whatever.

Are the physical seats easy to find? And are generic seats that'll fit into most cars available?
Will this mod need to be certified, and at what cost? What's involved?
Are any vehicles easier/harder to do this conversion to?

Cheers guys

[Pj_Marsh]

You can get Isuzu bighorns with 7 seats from factory, solid wagons that are generally pretty good and decent off road. Might be easier then modifying something

[NJV6]

Yes it will need to be certed and is a bit of work gettin seat belt mounts.

Best off to buy a 7 seater wagon unless you have your heart set on something.

How much are you going to spend? Prados, Pajeros, bighorns have 7 seats standard as do many soft wagons, captivas, Kia's, hyundais etc

[skid]

80 series cruisers have a factory 7 seat model as well

[BlakeNZ]

mistrals are factory seven seaters too.
takes big coin to add extra seats and get them certed. I have seen it done (to a 185 SURF) but very rare, not sure it's worth the hassle when you could get a prado or mistral. And the 80 series cruisers aren't all diesel hogs, I know a local whose example does 10km/litre! (road driving, and AT tyres).

[Crash bandicoot]

by the examples you have given terrano mistral etc, you may aswell just start hunting around for a LWB GLS or field master spec'd pajero.

I picked one up for 1500 with center diff lock, rear diff lock, 33's 7 seats multi zone climate control, leather interior, 146,000 kms on the clock
another for 1200 not quite so well eqipped and another for 400 that needed engine work.

[Sausager]

Thanks for the replies guys.

So it seems I'm better off buying something originally 7-seater (as I suspected, if I'm honest). My budget is around $7k which is lower than I want it to be, but you live within your means!

I'll mainly be using it for carting kids and their gear around, trips away, towing the odd trailer, and maybe a sneaky trip around Red Rocks or similar. Anyone got anything for sale?

[wjw]

Thanks for the replies guys.

So it seems I'm better off buying something originally 7-seater (as I suspected, if I'm honest). My budget is around $7k which is lower than I want it to be, but you live within your means!

I'll mainly be using it for carting kids and their gear around, trips away, towing the odd trailer, and maybe a sneaky trip around Red Rocks or similar. Anyone got anything for sale?

I would agree that a 7 seat Pajero would be your best option with that budget. I was looking for the same until I decided I still wanted to go to the West Coast.

I have an 80 and fitted a third row of seats, only reason for doing that was that seats are cheaper than diff locks and the 80's with 7 seats dont have F+R Diff locks

[stealth]

If you can get by with 6 seats, I put a bench in the front of my 130 surf, Still need cert, but everything was bolt up.

[Keltec]

Buying a factory 7 seater would have to be the easiest option, however I removed the factory rear double seat from my mistral 7 seater as I use the boot for tools etc. The seats can fold up when not in use, and I have all seat belts to go with it too. Let me know if it's any use to you! (Ps. I'm in Chch)